Shrub to screen pool equipment - zone 4
Mini Soda
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
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bogturtle
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agobogturtle
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Upright, narrow shrub for screen in zone 7b?
Comments (5)The green grass with drain and then up the hill is ours. The knockout roses are on the neighbor's property to the left. This pic is from 4 years ago and they hadn't planted the vinca yet. The vinca is doing fine, by the way, and entering our yard. The problem is that there is run-off from our yard into theirs and what they really need to plant are some shrubs, not flowers and vines. The roses they hate so much are helping them but they don't realize it. The hillside above our 2 backyards belongs to the houses above us--but those neighbors wouldn't plant anything to avoid erosion and run-off so we both had to spend a lot of money planting that hill. We used to be joined by a common...annoyance...of the neighbors up above. But now we are an annoyance to them too. I like Indian Hawthorn but have only seem them about 2-3 feet high. Didn't know they got any taller than that. I'll look into them......See MoreEvergreen screen for zone 3b/4a
Comments (9)Spruce can be pruned into a hedge. If you go with colorado spruce get a named culivar. The color varies enormously. A hedge made from genetically diverse specimens will look blotchy and sick. I've heard that larch, and white pine can both be pruned into hedges. If you have room for a double hedge, plant two rows of shrub type willows. Get two varieties that have contrasting winter stem color. On alternate years you cut one row to the ground in early spring. This keeps them producing lots of colorful stems. If you are worried about willow roots invasiveness, you could use one of the dogwoods, or get willows that are water lovers, sculpt a swale into the spot where you will ahve the hedge, and flod irrigate it. I would expect that the willows would keep their roots wehre the water is....See Moreevergreen screen for zone 3b/4a
Comments (6)Although I'm in z5a/b, I'm looking at a similar project. Avoid yews; they are deer magnets. Some of the more cold-tolerant evergreens are the spruces ~ picea abies, glauca and pungens. I think these are native to the Northeast. (I see you live in NH) The Cary Award evergreen winner this year is Abies koreana; check it out. And at the top of my list will be red cedar ~ juniperis virginiana, "Emerald Sentinel". Hardy Z3-9, 15'-20'tall by 5'-8' wide. Oh, and there's a japanese black pine that's a fairly fast grower. Don't forget to consider scale; many of the generic forms of these trees can get well in excess of 50' tall by 20+' wide; I know I don't have that kind of space! I got a lot of my information from an article on deer-resistant plants I found on Twombly's website, and the Weston Nurseries site has good info as well. One of my favorite sites for all things plant-related is http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/ - It's an encyclopedia with pix of all. I'll be watching this post for more ideas myself! Here is a link that might be useful: Good hedges article...See MoreOpinions on which bush to hide my pool equipment??
Comments (3)Well, of the plants you listed, I'd avoid crabapple because it has issues with Cedar Apple Rust disease, cotoneaster because it is very susceptible to fireblight disease, and pyracantha because it is thorny--especially if you have children that will be running around the pool area. So, that leaves Beauty Bush, Sambucus "Black Lace" and Viburnum. Of those three, I'd tend to go with Beauty Bush or Sambucus, but I am not sure either of them will do well in the hot afternoon sun. If your pool is an above-ground pool and does not have a hard-surface decking that is made of concrete or something similar, they might have a chance. If it is an in-ground pool, though, and is surrounded by concrete decking, the plants that hide the pool equipment need to be able to withstand not only the very hot summer air temperatures and intense sunlight but also the reflected heat from the pool decking. Plants that are in morning shade and then are suddenly hit by afternoon sun plus the reflected heat from a pool decking can struggle in July and August. One reason you see so many tropical plantings around pools is because tropicals can handle the extreme afternoon air temperatures and the reflected heat from the pool decking. If it were my pool, I wouldn't have chosen anything on your list for hot afternoon sun near a pool, but that's just me. I am in zone 7B with very hot summer weather and your weather might be more mild than mine, although summer is pretty hot and miserable everywhere in our state. When I choose plants for either the western or southern side of my house, the hot afternoon temperatures and the fact that the plants have to deal with heat reflecting off the walls of the house are a key consideration. In a situation like that, I prefer tough evergreen shrubs with very thick leaves, like hollies, because they shrug off the heat or tropical plants that thrive in hot weather and are not bothered by reflected heat. We had a pool when we lived in Fort Worth, and I hid the pool equipment with two tall arborvitaes. They had a nice pyramidal shape,were very dense so they hid the equipment well, and didn't shed lots of debris that could blow into the pool. One problem with anything that flowers is that the flowers eventually fall and blow around, and then somebody has to spend time cleaning them up. The clean up can take more time on a daily basis than you think, especially if they blow into the pool and are floating on the water's surface. Cannas are a good option for a poolside planting and the tall ones easily get 5 to 6' tall even if planted in poor soil, and even taller in good soil as long as they receive adequate moisture. Their flowers are larger and heavier and don't blow around as much as smaller flowers that weigh much less. The large green elephant ears get quite tall and dense as well. Both of those plants do well for me in morning shade/afternoon sun on the southern side of the house. Often it takes a while to figure out what will grow well near a pool because the reflected heat from the pool decking is often not considered when plants are chosen. Good luck, Dawn...See Morebogturtle
8 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH
8 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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